Vitalis Omnibus (58 page)

Chapter 10

“Sharp was getting worried about you,” Tarn greeted Elsa as she stopped at the stream to wash and reclaim her loincloth. “Did you find them?”

Elsa looked up, a smile spreading her lips. “Sharp was worried? What about you?”

He chuckled. “I seen what you done to that prowler, I knew better.”

She scrubbed the last of the mud and sweat from her chest and stood up. She walked up to him and pressed her wet body against his, capturing his lips with hers. She pressed against him, showing him her hunger. When his tongue and hers met she sucked it between her lips suggestively. She pushed away before losing control. She wanted him so much she couldn’t draw air into her chest.

“Well I missed the hell out of you,” Elsa admitted when her lungs obeyed her. She turned away, her cheeks burning, and crossed back over the stream to retrieve her loin cloth and weapons. When she’d finished dressing she turned back and saw Tarn just watching her. She ignored the second flush of heat to her face and said, “We found four survivors. The pilot, a couple of scientists, and a kid who drew the short straw.”

“You’re beautiful,”
Tarn blurted out.

Elsa snapped her head around to look at him and was rewarded by seeing
Tarn’s eyes as big as rock fruit and his mouth gaping open. He snapped it shut and cleared his throat, then stared at the stream between them as though it was the most fascinating thing on the entire planet. “A kid?” He said. “They brought a kid?”

Elsa couldn’t stop the grin that tried to swallow her face. She crossed back over and leaned in to give him another kiss. It wasn’t nearly as lust-filled but it conveyed the emotion and appreciation she felt. “Come on, walk me back and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Tarn fell in beside her, waiting for her to share the story.

“He’s not a kid like Kelsey or Balia,” she explained, naming off Klous’s son and Ling’s daughter. “He’s pretty fresh out of Basic though. Spaceman Trent Somethingorother, I forgot his last name already. I guess they held a lottery of people willing to come down with the lab rats and this kind won.”

“They didn’t send any Marines?”

“Mission was 100% voluntary, they said,” she explained. She reached over and slipped her hand into
Tarn’s, then grinned when he looked at her.

“You’re not acting so tough all of a sudden,” he said.

“If you’d prefer, I’ll knock you down and land on top of you so I can ride you to a very sweaty, very loud, and very mutually satisfying orgasm.”

Tarn
stumbled over a root, breaking his grip while trying not to fall. He got his balance before looking at the angelic smile on her face. “I wasn’t saying I minded. I kinda like seeing this side of you.”

“Good,” Elsa said, taking his hand in hers again. “Kira and Fiona,” Elsa let her words hang, uncertain of how to finish the sentence. She gave up with a sigh and tried again. “Life is precious here, and having someone to share it with never seemed more important to me than it does now.”

Tarn squeezed her hand briefly, bringing a smile to her face. “Not to mention all of the wicked things I plan to do to you when I get you alone.”

He turned to glance at her, his brow raised. She winked at him, then broke her hand free of his.

“Come on, I don’t want to miss Jess introducing the fresh meat.”

They made their way to the communal fire pit, where most of the others had gathered informally.
Tarn’s watchers manned their posts but almost everyone else had gathered. Elsa studied the faces twice before she turned to glance at Tarn. She mouthed the word, “Klous,” to him, but he only shook his head.

Frowning, Elsa turned back and worked her way through the crowd to stand next to Captain Sharp.

“Sorry I’m late, Captain, I wanted to get cleaned up first.”

Sharp’s eyes swept over her quickly without lingering on her bare chest. “Sounds like you had an interesting time out there.”

Elsa nodded. “Found some new animals, plus tar pits and hot springs.”

Elsa stepped aside so
Tarn could see the newest residents of Treetown. “This is Dr. Bettany Zangers, a xenobiologist. The bald guy is Dr. Colin Sparks, a physicist. The lady with the 1
st
lieutenant bars is Reinna Centos—she kept the shuttle from crashing into a mountain by crashing it into a hot spring. And finally here’s the man I was telling you about, Spaceman Trent Peters.”

“I’m Tarn,”
Tarn said, offering them a nod of his head. “Just Tarn will do. I run security for Treetown. After you get broken in I’ll work you into our schedule.”

“What schedule? Colin asked.

“Same schedule everybody else has. Ain’t that many of us, so we all pitch in. If you’ve got a special skill that helps us out and takes up extra time, then you’ll spend less time sitting on the perimeter. Either way, everybody does it, and everybody trains with these,” Tarn picked at the string of his bow that ran over his muscular chest.

“We brought back as much from the shuttle as we could,” Elsa added, pointing to the pile of equipment they’d lugged back with them.

Tarn shrugged. “It’ll break,” he promised.

Sharp turned until he saw Eric lurking at the edge of the crowd. Elsa followed his gaze and felt her heart skip a beat. For living on a planet where everybody was in the best shape of their lives he looked rough. He had circles under his eyes and his shoulders were bentover. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to punch him to get his head back in the game or give him a hug. She’d only known Kira a few months but she shared some of the loss he must be feeling.

“Elsa, I need you to come with me,” Sharp said. He turned without waiting for her and made his way to the nearest ladder.

She glanced at
Tarn and received his nod. She followed the captain turned mayor, hiding her confusion. Did it have something to do with why Klous wasn’t present? Two platforms later they stood inside the walls of Sharp’s tree top residence. Lizzie and Ling were sitting on stumps, the Asian man holding his smaller partner’s hand in support. Gresham and Ben snapped off salutes and stepped outside to wait. Elsa jerked in surprise, had they been saluting Sharp or her?

“Klous and Sasha are gone,” Jonathan told her. He turned to the seated couple. “Tell her what you told me.”

Lizzie sniffed and nodded. “Early last night Klous came to me. He was upset. Upset like I’ve never seen him. He said Sasha was in labor, but it’d only been a few of weeks since I knew she was pregnant! Ling and I rushed over, and Klous said he’d be there as soon as he could.”

Elsa thought back to the gathered people. Some of the missing faces might have been on sentry duty, but Klous, Sasha, Kelsey, and Aran seemed the three most likely to be somewhere else. She tuned back in as Lizzie continued.

“He was right, she was giving birth. Kira had told her she was having twins and she was right. There were two of them. But they weren’t Klous’s.”

Elsa heard herself gasp. She clapped her hand over her mouth and straightened, irritated at her reaction. “Who was the father?”

“We don’t know,” Ling said. “We don’t want to know.”

“You don’t want to know?” Elsa repeated, confused.

“They weren’t human,” Tarn said, resting his hand on her shoulder gently. “Not all the way, anyhow. Small and dark, they had mouths full of teeth that looked fit to chew through a tree limb and lots of short curly hair. Looked human enough outside of that, I guess. A boy and a girl.”

“Kelsey was Klous’s though, he was human. Balia’s human too!” Elsa confusion was getting worse, not better.

“Kelsey isn’t Klous’s,” Lizzie whispered. Ling pressed his hands against hers as tears fell down her cheeks. “I promised Sasha I wouldn’t tell but…but…I guess it doesn’t matter now. They kept trying but nothing ever happened. Sasha got frustrated, she knew how bad Klous wanted children. She teased Aran and—”

“Where’s Aran now, gone with them?” Elsa interrupted.

“Just gone,” Sharp said. “Taylor found him. Klous gutted him from his crotch to his chest.”

Elsa grimaced. If anybody deserved a gutting it was Klous. She still hadn’t subscribed completely to the theory that human life was so sacred on Vitalis even the assholes like Klous deserved to live. “So where’d they go?” She asked Ling and Lizzie.

“Klous showed up and saw Sasha’s twins. He stared at them without saying a word. When he did speak he turned to Sasha and held her tight to him, then he told me and Ling to get out.”

“Just like that?”

Lizzie glanced at her lover. He nodded for her to continue. She chewed on her lip, the piercing she’d toyed with had been gone for years but the habit persisted.

“I spent time with him and knew he was getting worse,” Ling answered for her. “He’s always taken risks and been a little crazy, but his schemes were getting worse. We tried to talk sense into him, tried to understand what happened, but he wouldn’t have it. He pushed us out, but I wouldn’t leave. We stayed and listened.”

Lizzie tucked her head into Ling’s chest and quietly sobbed. Elsa glanced around, not understanding the woman’s reaction. She looked at Ling and saw him shaking his head and blinking back the moisture in his eyes. “So what did you hear?” She asked, frustrated at being left out.

“Klous questioned her. He was careful and gentle, I’ll give him credit. She admitted at last that she’d fallen asleep one night on sentry duty and hadn’t woke up until Aran relieved her the next morning. She had nightmares about it and she’d thought Aran had been the cause. She thought he might have tried to have his way with her again. She swore she’d only slept with him one time.” Ling shook his head. “Klous promised her everything was okay, that he wasn’t upset. He’d taken care of things, he said. Now we know what he meant.”

“But they’re still gone. And who’s the father of the twins?”

“Not who, what,” Sharp answered. “We think it was one of the hybrids.”

“Oh fuck,” Elsa cursed. She grimaced at the unintentional double meaning of her words. She remembered the one that had tried to capture her, in particular how aroused it had been when it grabbed her. She nodded in silent agreement with Sharp’s presumption.

“Klous convinced her they could leave and make it on their own. To the north, he said, there was easier living. Safety in caves in the mountains and plenty of hunting and fishing they could do.”

“The north?” Elsa jerked, turning to stare at Sharp and then Tarn. “That’s where Barry and I saw one of the hybrids! Does he think he can kill them like he did Aran? They’ll be slaughtered.”

Lizzie gasped and sobbed anew into Ling’s chest. Ling held her and shook his head. “His brother might have enjoyed trying that, but he was insane. Well, I think Klous may be too, but it’s not the same kind of crazy. I think Klous means to join up with them.”

“And the…things?” Elsa asked, unable to find a fitting word to describe the offspring of Sasha and the hybrid.

“They went with them. Klous said they’d try to teach them to be more than animals.”

Elsa swore and turned away, pushing past Tarn to stand outside of the small cabin. The fresh air was still humid and thick. It didn’t relax her muscles or calm her down at all. She leaned over the railing and spat, as though that would rid her of the foul taste in her mouth.

She felt
Tarn’s hand on her back. His skin was rough and calloused, but his touch was gentle. “What do we do now?” Elsa wondered, straightening slowly.

“I went out after them this morning, as soon as we knew,”
Tarn said. They made good time, but they weren’t careful. Couple of prowlers caught their trail and were after them too. Then I found the prowlers bodies. They were torn up bad, no way Klous and Sasha done that, especially with three kids. I kept going and found other tracks mixed with theirs. Tracks from them new spitters. Never found no bodies though, just more tracks. Whatever happened, they went with them and it looks like they was willing.”

Elsa shook her head. She couldn’t imagine walking into a slaughter like that. Especially for Sasha. She’d never gotten to know the woman but that didn’t mean Sasha deserved the abuse that was coming. Klous, yes, he deserved it. But not Sasha and definitely not Kelsey.

“I’ll go get them,” she said, turning to face them.

“No, you won’t.” Sharp said. “We’ve lost too many people already. Even if I had fifteen people just as good as you I wouldn’t let you go. We have to move on and prepare for the worst.”

“What could be worse?” Elsa grumbled.

“What if Klous wins them over and convinces them to work with him.”

Elsa shook her head not in denial, but to stop the world from spinning around her. Deranged and unbalanced as Klous was, if he had an army of hybrids at his command he could do anything.

Chapter 11

Kelsey gasped as a hybrid moved silently through the underbrush a scant three feet away. Sasha reached down with her free hand and ruffled the boy’s hair to reassure him. “Hush Kels, it’s not much longer. Trust your daddy, he knows what he’s doing.” Kelsey didn’t see Sasha mouth the added words, “I hope.”